Look Away
by Violet-Pears
Summary: AU : For five teenagers their lives are about to be thrown about as they are thrown into a world that barely exists. The world needs heroes and they have been chosen to help defeat the darkness that is threatening the Earth. But they can't save everyone else if they cannot defeat the darkness that looms within themselves first. (Rating may go up, depends on later chapters)
1. Chapter 1

**DC owns the Teen Titans, not me. Hopefully you all enjoy this, I know I'm enjoying writing it. R&R.**

**Full(ish) Summary - AU. For five teenagers their lives are about to be thrown about as they are thrown into a world that barely exists. The world needs heroes and they have been chosen to help defeat the darkness that is threatening the Earth. But they can't save everyone else if they cannot defeat the darkness that looms within themselves first. For Raven, she has just come back from touring the world, when she is reunited with an old friend everything starts to change. Changing the social system of the school seems to be merely the start. As five friends are visited in a dream one night, their lives are changed forever. When an argument breaks out a terrified Raven destroys the cafeteria. When trying to help his friend Garfield turns into a Lion, petrifying the already terrified students. Things get worse as Kori blows up the computing room and Victor suddenly begins to physically alter in front of his girlfriends eyes. It's then all down to Richard to help save his friends, before the authorities try to take them away.  
The group then discovers that they have limited time indeed. In six months they have to gain enough support and collect enough allies before the impending darkness strikes. **

* * *

She took a seat in the cafeteria. Pulling her lunch out of her bag. An emotionless mask on her face. For her first day back at Jump City High it was a nightmare. It seemed as if her time away had been non-existent. The insults were as bad as they were before she left. The same people insulting her. It made her feel sick.

One more year. That's what she kept telling herself. One more year and she would be free to go wherever she wanted and do whatever she wanted. No more bullies. No more insults. No more High School.

She wished that she and her mother had travelled for just one more year. They had spent two years doing a full world tour, her mother had her 'home'-schooled during their travels. Her mother loved travelling, it was something the two did often. They would randomly fly off to a random place and explore. When she was a mere child she had been to a variety of places. She had spent six months in Thailand, a year in Russia, a year in Italy, a year in India and eighteen months in Africa. She could only vaguely remember Italy and Russia. She had no memory of being in Thailand. She could remember both India and Africa clearly.

She left Africa when she was seven. She had moved to Jump City and her mother had her attend school. She never had any friends. In her whole life she had only ever had one friend and she had last seen him when she was only seven years old. The two had been incredibly close; they had gone exploring together, played games, found things, swam, ran, been idiots together, learned together and helped each other through things.

A sigh escaped her lips as she began to eat her lunch. She let her blue eyes scan the cafeteria, forcing a dry laugh back down her throat. Nothing had seemed to have changed. The jocks and the cheerleaders seemed to have the same table at the back, the rebels sat around a table by the window, next to the skaters, who's table was opposite that of the 'musical-geeks'. Right behind the 'musical-geeks' you had the 'nerds', next to them was the wrestlers and at the table next to there was the 'girly-girls', next to then was the Goths, and then you had all the smaller tables for the outcasts.

Nothing ever seemed to change when it came to high school.

"Hello, you must be the new girl, Raven?"

Raven looked up, surprised. A very tall, slim girl, with fiery red hair was looking down at me with wide green eyes. There was an air of innocence about her, something very naive. Yet that seemed to mask the underlying strength the girl carried. A fierce determination and strong will, she was lead by her heart and not her mind. The girl spoke in an odd accent, the way she spoke also implied that she was not completely confident in speaking English and so Raven assumed the girl was either an immigrant or exchange student.

"Yes, I am Raven. Although, I'm not exactly new."

"Ah, yes. I have been informed of your previous attendance to this school. The other students are so very mean about you." The girl scrunched up her face in distaste. "I do not like such behaviour." She smiled down at Raven. "My name is Kori Anders. May I please join you?"

Raven blinked quickly, in mild shock, before nodding. "Yeah, sure..."

A flashy grin spread across Kori's face. "Why thank you." She pulled out a chair and sat down, before pulling her own lunch out of her bag. "Most people do not wish to have me sitting with them. They think of me as far too strange. Although Richard likes to insist that I sit with him. He is very wonderful, but his friends do not seem to like me too much. They think I am too girly and talkative."

Raven hid the smirk that grew on her face as she listened to Kori speak. She felt bad for the girl opposite her. She knew how she felt in the regards of being considered strange. She appreciated the effort Kori was making to talk to her. Kori was far from the kind of person Raven had ever seen herself befriending, but then again, Raven had never really pictured herself befriending anyone. What she tended to see in people was something she could not stand.

It was rare for her to find someone who was as nice as they appeared.

Raven had often called it a curse. The ability to see who people really were just by looking into their eyes. She could just sense their personalities and it instantly pushed her away from far too many people. There had been a handful of people who had given her good 'vibes'. Those people were as honest as they said they were. The people who were loyal to the end. Unfortunately, she had never had the chance to properly befriend them.

"People think I'm far too anti-social. They think I'm a freak." Raven looked down at her sandwich. "They are right."

Kori tutted. "Do not be so negative. I do not believe that you are a 'freak'. You are merely misunderstood." She let out a sigh. "I think that you are quite a nice person. You just do not let other people see it."

Raven gave a dry laugh. "Thanks but..."

A single glare from the red-head shut Raven up.

After a few minutes Kori began to talk again. A soft smile on her face as she told Raven a bit about her past. Raven learned that Kori came from a small country called Tameran that was just off of the west coast of Africa. Kori explained some of their traditions and Raven felt rather disturbed by a number of them, but she continued to listen. She let Kori tell her numerous child-hood stories and even told a few herself.

"Really?" Kori laughed loudly, causing a number of people to turn and look at her.

"Yup." Raven replied, popping the 'p'. "When you're only five you don't really care about being naked. Plus, we didn't want to get our clothes wet and so we stripped off and dove into the lake." A fond smile spread across her face. "His parents found us. They were _not_ impressed with us."

They were walking to history. A class they both had together. They were both laughing as they entered the classroom, causing those who were already in the class to look over at them. The teacher looked up from the open book on his desk. He frowned slightly before studying Raven.

"Miss Roth?" he questioned.

"Yes." She replied, somewhat monotonously.

He pointed over to the second row back, next to the window on the other side of the class. "You will sit their next to Mr Logan."

She nodded before making her way towards the desk. She was frowning as she pulled out the chair on the right, she sat down and pulled out a fresh notepad. She pulled a new pen out of her bag and waited patiently. Kori was sat on the opposite side of the classroom, sitting next to Richard Grayson. Richard was a nice guy, who she had gotten along with before she had left, but they had never been 'friends'. Raven slowly began to get impatient as the students slowly filled into the classroom.

She felt her blood run cold when her eyes locked on an all too familiar figure. Long platinum blonde hair, bright, icy blue eyes and lightly tanned skin. The girl was clad in a pair of dark blue, super skinny jeans, a tightly fitting yellow and black long-sleeved t-shirt and yellow flats. She was as gorgeous as ever, and by the look on her face her personality had not changed a bit either. Terra Markov. The girl who had made Raven's life hell since she had moved to Jump City.

She let her gaze drop back down to her note pad. Her shoulder length, dyed purple-violet hair fell down to hide her face, too late.

"Well, well, well. Look at what the cat dragged in. If it isn't Raven Roth. I see you haven't change a bit. Still the gothic loser. Shame, I was hoping that should you ever return, you'd be a little more, _normal_."

Raven turned to look at her. As she opened her mouth to make a retort a new voice cut in before her.

"Well that's hypocritical. I mean seriously, Terra, you can't go around telling someone else to be normal when you sure as hell aren't. I mean seriously, you get bitches and then you get you... You have a scale all to yourself because you are just that bad. Now that... That is not normal, dude."

Terra spun around to look at the boy who had spoken. A fake smile spread across her face. "You're the one who dated me, baby."

"Yeah... Biggest mistake of my life."

The young man walked past her towards the desk Raven was sat at. He dropped a notepad and pen on the desk before throwing the bag under it. He then proceeded to pull out the other chair and flopped himself into it. Raven looked at him for a second, her had sandy blonde, wavy, hair with very lightly tanned skin. He was not much taller than her. He had a cheeky grin on his face and wide, bright, emerald eyes.

He stuck out his hand. "Garfield Logan. You can call me Gar."

Raven felt her heart begin to pound in her chest. Her mind chanting '_could it be?'_ She took his hand a lightly shook it. "Raven Roth."

A curious look spread across his face as he cocked his head to the side. "Have you ever been to Africa?"

That told her everything she needed to know as a grin spread across her face. "I have actually. I was telling Kori about some of the things I had gotten up to there earlier, as a matter of fact."

"Oh yeah, what were you telling her about."

"The time my friend and I were caught by my mother when we set a bird on fire and the time when we were caught swimming naked by his parents."

"My favourite was the time we almost ended up married."


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter is slightly shorter, I'm hoping to try and boost the length after this chapter. Hopefully y'all enjoy it.**

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When Raven got home that night she was smiling happily. Her mother shot her a questioning look, but Raven ignored it. Her first day back at school had been her best day at school ever. Never had anyone tried to get to know her before and never had anyone stood up for her before. Never had anyone given her their numbers before either. She also had plans for the weekend. Having plans was something she was not used to, but it was exciting to know that someone wanted to spend time with her.

Kori had all but demanded that Raven spent Saturday at the mall with her. Raven was reluctant to agree, but she did so. The mall was not really the place she tended to hang out at, but it was a compromise. She doubted the small, gothic poetry cafe was a place Kori would like to go. It would be a bit too depressing for her happy-go-lucky personality.  
Garfield had barely seemed to of changed over the past ten years. Still as cheeky and persistent as ever. Raven hardly heard the teacher as Garfield babbled away to her throughout the period. He was as talkative as ever, Raven had always been the quiet one of the two. He had told her that he was incredibly excited to see her again and that he had really missed his first, and best friend. He had then proceeded to decide that at least once a week the two had to sit together at lunch. He was excited to get to know her all over again and said that they would have to meet up after school at some point.

She shut her bedroom door behind her and flopped back onto her bed. Her head hit the pillows and she shut her eyes for a few minutes, exhaling deeply. She pulled herself up and looked at her bedside table. A small sheet of paper rested on top of the book she was reading. It was her to do list. An orderly list that had helped her de-stress when she had last been at Jump City High. It was her orderly method that had gotten her through the bullying last time. As she looked at it, her smile grew. The thought of not needing to use the method excited her. She had nearly sickened herself of green tea and other herbal remedies.

She picked up the book and placed the list down on the table, just in front of the framed picture she kept on the table. The frame was silver and had items carelessly stuck onto it. A child's work. The picture was of two children. A young girl with shoulder length dark brown, wavy hair. Her blue eyes were sparkling, her skin was very tanned and she wore a huge grin on her face. One small arm was slung over the boy next to hers shoulders, while her free hand was placed firmly on her hip. She wore a lilac summer dress and no shoes. The boy next to her was around an inch shorter, he had wavy sandy blonde hair and bright, mischievous emerald eyes. His skin was more tanned than hers, though their grins matched. His arm was wrapped tightly around her waist, holding her into him. He wore a pair of blue shorts and a white t-shirt.

A small note was folded up and tucked into the bottom right corner of the frame. It had been a leaving present given to Raven when she left Africa. It was her favourite photo of herself and Garfield. It had been taken the day the two had almost gotten – legitimately – married. She rolled her eyes at the memory. To think that had their mothers not happened upon them sooner, the two would have been officially married. She let out a chuckle as she wondered what her life would have been like had their mothers not arrived when they had.

As she went to open her book, her phone buzzed. Surprised she took the white phone from her pocket and unlocked it. She opened up the unread message and let out a humourless laugh.

**Garfield Logan.**

**Hey, you up to much? I'm pretty bored and need something to do.**

Her fingers danced across the key pad, wondering what to say. Social affairs were not her strong point. She had no experience in making plans or preventing another person's boredom. She tended to rely on sarcasm and wit to keep people away from her. The urge to send a sarcastic reply was somewhat overwhelming.

**Hello, not really. Well, I don't have anything that needs to be done**

She let out a frustrated groan as she accidently hit the send button halfway through her reply. She let herself fall back and her head hit the pillows once again. She felt her phone buzz in her hand and she looked at down at the new message.

**Great! There's a new pizza place that's just opened, we can go there!**

She blinked in surprise and shot back up into a sitting position. The boy was seemingly relentless. She was sure he had plenty of other friends that he would have made in his eighteen months at the school. She was sure she had seen him with a number of other people at lunch. She had also seen the girls that had pretty much thrown themselves at him as they walked from History to English. He also must have been rather popular, seeing as he had gone out with Terra at some point. A pang of jealousy shot through her and she bit back a growl of annoyance.

_I really should meditate. _She thought bitterly to herself.

She looked back at the text from Garfield and sucked in a deep breath.

**That sounds great.**

She was extremely surprised when the text she received next arrived no more than three seconds after she had sent hers.

**Kay! I'll be at yours in a few. I knew you couldn't resist. **

She rolled her eyes and pulled herself up off of her bed. She made her way across the room and opened her door. That was when she received yet another surprise. The doorbell rang. As she made her way along the corridor she heard her mother open the front door and then she heard Garfield's voice. He lived a good few blocks away from her. It was at least a seven minute journey from where he was living to her house.

She approached the front door, where Garfield was animatedly talking.

"You were not going to take no for an answer, were you?"

He looked at her, his grin widening. "Of course not! I was sitting bored in my room, then I thought to myself 'that new pizza place opened last week, I should totally go there'. And then I thought 'oh, I bet Raven would love to go, she loves pizza'. And then I grabbed my phone, left the house and text you."

Raven laughed before looking at her mother. "I'll be back later."

Without awaiting her mothers reply, Raven stepped outside. Garfield bid her mother a cheery farewell before falling into step with Raven. She was beginning to wonder if that smile was on his face permanently. The two walked in silence for a while. It was much different from how she knew saturday was going to go. Kori seemed far too talkative and Raven was dreading the endless chatter, but she was excited about getting to spend the day with someone who wanted to spend it with her.

"Your mom seems exactly the same."

Raven looked at Garfield, slightly surprised. She gave a slight nod. "Yeah. She never seems to change. But, I think that's just a front. Sometimes, I hear her crying at night..." She shook her head sadly before muttering under her breath. "I'll always hate that man."

"Your d..."

"He's not my dad." She almost growled. "He's a monster."

Garfield gave a dry laugh. "Gotta agree with that. He was one messed up dude. I remember meeting him..." He shuddered slightly and Raven resisted the urge to smile.

"He's been arrested after all that stalker rubbish."

"He belongs behind bars." Garfield looked down, meeting Raven's gaze. "It's his fault you left."

The five words hit her like a ton of bricks. A sudden epiphany. She had spent a decade just accepting that her mother had simply dragged her off to live in America. She had never dwelled on the reasoning behind it. But now that it had been mentioned, it made perfect sense. Her dad turned up and a week later she's on a plane being forced to leave behind a life she was content living. She had been happy in Africa. Her mother had been happy in Africa. They had made friends. They had helped people. It had been a life they had both thoroughly enjoyed.

"Yes... I guess it is."

"I've found this situation quite amusing."

She looked up at Garfield, confused.

He grinned at her. "I mean, what were the chances of us attending the same high school in America after having been friends in Africa." He shook his head lightly. "Seriously dude, that only ever happens in movies."

"For all you know, there could be someone with a camera following us around." She replied, a smirk on her lips.

"I could live with that."

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**Well, I've updated. I must say, I am thoroughly enjoying writing this particular fic.**

**PersonifiedKat : I hadn't originally planned on having Terra in it at the beginning. But I quite like the way that turned out as well. I have sorted the perspective and made sure that the whole first chapter is now all in 3rd person. I had thought I had sorted it all before I uploaded it, obviously I had missed a few parts out. Ah, well. **


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